Do you ever pick up the newspaper, see a headline about a burning building, and somehow you know it is the house in which you were born? Maybe you are an arsonist or maybe you are a narcissist. In my case, I happened to catch a headline today that read “Jersey City school infested with bedbugs”, and I could see my old elementary school before me, P.S. 23. It is the oldest public school in the city, built in 1919, with the ornamental facade and murky corners to prove it. There was a cuban store on the corner where we bought gum and sandwiches, and a paved playground just right for scrapping and skinning knees. So I click the link and indeed, it was my old school on Romaine Ave. and also George Wendt does not approve. WTF?

I looked up the story in the Jersey Journal. Old P.S. 23 is infested, and George Wendt is the concerned parent, angry that the school is not going to close and exterminate, but is attempting to quarantine the floors where the bedbugs were found until school lets out. This does seem a ridiculous plan, considering that bedbugs are not exactly stationary objects and exhibit an attraction to their food source. Have legs will travel, people!

I have gone all sentimental, thinking of the old school. But this is turned to dismay by thinking of the place having bedbugs. At least it is a comfort to know that even semi-famous people have to send their kids to dingy old vermin choked schools in Jersey City, as my parents did. I can tell those kids, the future is BRIGHT.

Well, FINALLY a site that is of great help! The blogs are answering some myieersts and never before has misery loved company .Bedbugs are making an appearance in Denver for the first time in my 66 years that I can bring to mind. As with Mara Dumont, I can echo her plight, since July, and am suffering recurring bouts of severe sleep deprivation. Never fail to have the utmost compassion for POWS, as this is a favorite torture method as it ultimately collapses the nervous system.I want to help people find just about the best mattress cover on the market, which is certifiable. I purchased 4 at Bed, Bath and Beyond and had to toss 2 of them as they are woefully incorrect. I am being bombed , sprayed, have used every recipe I have found and the best has not even done it. Be aware that even though I have jacked up the water heater to steaming and drying everything in this house in the hot dryer, it is dubious that it is doing all it is reputed to do. I have about 5 spray bottles that are filled with different hi-potency household things and have gone through about 35 bottles (lg.) of rubbing alcohol (will kill them if you get a direct hit) doing sprays and alcohol baths. Still they come and appear to be getting smaller since the pest control has come. THANK GOD I do not live in a multi-family dwelling, although my neighbors are horrified. Whether laundered or not, EVERYTHING goes into black plastic bags, secured at the tie beyond belief and are presently in my front driveway being Solar Cooked and have been there for about 2 weeks. I rotate about 3 pathetic outfits, sleep between a folded sheet on top of my new Mattress Cover for as long as the vermin allow, and use a paper towel roll for a pillow, besides using them to dry off with after one of my 6 showers. I sleep in my olive oil formula in my hair and Vaseline to trap and smother them. I have a new $2,000 vacuum which almost sucks up the concrete slab and use it twice a day and as needed.My little 10-year old guest of a month in June brought them and one other gift that keeps on giving biting lice. I am on a first-name basis with the consulting entomologist at Colorado State University. Like Maura, I am a font of knowledge suffering knowledge.Due diligence is the only thing that will resolve it and pest control. Diatomacious earth can be chemically induced, so be careful, and add it to your new vacuum bag, which has to be destroyed in a plastic bag after use.I hope my epistle helps out there. Beyond that, you have all made it to my prayer list! God Bless and PEACE be with you.